115. The Frozen Zone; Or, Julia Disdainful
Whither? say, whither shall I fly,To slack these flames wherein I fry?To the treasures, shall I go,Of the rain, frost, hail, and snow?Shall I search the underground,Where all damps and mists are found?Shall I seek (for speedy ease)All the floods and frozen seas?Or descend into the deep,Where eternal cold does keep?These may cool; but there's a zoneColder yet than anyone:That's my Julia's breast, where dwellsSuch destructive icicles,As that the congelation willMe sooner starve than those can kill.
Words in this poem
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- anyone n.
- One taken at random rather than by selection; anybody.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
115. The Frozen Zone; Or, Julia Disdainful is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #22421; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Herrick, 115. The Frozen Zone; Or, Julia Disdainful, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/115-the-frozen-zone-or-julia-disdainful.html, id L05173.
Form and metre
115. The Frozen Zone; Or, Julia Disdainful is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEE--FFGG flyA · fryA · goB · snowB · undergroundC · foundC · easeD · seasD · deepE · keepE · zone · anyone · dwellsF · iciclesF · willG · killG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Whither? say, whither shall I fly, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| To slack these flames wherein I fry? | 8 | ········ |
| To the treasures, shall I go, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of the rain, frost, hail, and snow? | 7 | ······· |
| Shall I search the underground, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where all damps and mists are found? | 7 | ······· |
| Shall I seek (for speedy ease) | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All the floods and frozen seas? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Or descend into the deep, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Where eternal cold does keep? | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| These may cool; but there's a zone | 7 | ······· |
| Colder yet than anyone: | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| That's my Julia's breast, where dwells | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Such destructive icicles, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| As that the congelation will | 8 | ········ |
| Me sooner starve than those can kill. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.